Venezuela’s Nunzio Coffaro tackles the Middle Eastern dunes in his Overdrive Toyota.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Overdrive Racing is making its final preparations for next week’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally, the third round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, where the Belgian team will field four cars in the four-day desert event on April 22-26.
The Brazilian duo of Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin will be hoping to repeat their victory at the Italian Baja in March and are entered for their second race with Overdrive.
The Venezuelan pairing of Nunzio Coffaro and Daniel Meneses finished 12th in the recent Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge after final stage delays and they head to Qatar looking for a good points haul in a Toyota Hilux with support from Venezuelan Tourism, the Ministry of Sport and PDVSA.
Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski and Bartlomiej Boba joined Overdrive Racing for the first time in the UAE two weeks ago and reached the finish at the Yas Marina circuit in a fine ninth overall. Spurred on by this success, the Poles head to the deserts of Qatar in confident mood and crew the third car, with a top 10 finish the goal on this occasion.
Kazakhstan driver Aidyn Rakhimbayev and Russian co-driver Vladimir Demiyanenko complete the Overdrive Racing line-up in their Toyota Hilux. Running under the Team Astana banner, the pair has joined the Belgian team for the first time, although they have competed in numerous cross-country events and will be fielding two Toyota Hiluxes later in the season.
“It has been a busy few weeks and part of our team stayed in the Middle East after the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to prepare the cars for this race,” said Overdrive team manager Jean-Marc Fortin. “I think we have a good chance of a good result. I think the combination of drivers that we have might surprise a few people.”
Overdrive Racing has received extensive support from Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros, the sole local distributor of Toyota and Lexus cars, for its challenge for honours in the Sealine Cross-Country Rally.
Overdrive Racing benefited from the support of the company in 2012 and went on to take first and second overall in the Sealine event with Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and Argentinean Lucio Alvarez driving the cars. The team is delighted to be continuing the association this year.
